[72] E. Martène and U. Durand, Thesaurus novus Anecdotorum, 1717, vol. iv, pp. 696 seqq.
[73] Pecock, The Repressor of over-much blaming of the Clergy, ed. C. Babington, 1860, pt. i, chap. iii, pp. 15-16. His words show both the difficulties which confronted ecclesiastical teaching and the attempts to overcome them. “I preie thee ... seie to me where in Holi Scripture is yoven the hundrid parti of the teching upon matrimonie which y teche in a book mad upon Matrimonie, and in the firste partie of Cristen religioun.... Seie to me also where in Holi Scripture is yoven the hundrid part of the teching which is yoven upon usure in the thridde parti of the book yclepid The filling of the iiij tables; and yit al thilk hool teching yoven upon usure in the now named book is litil ynough or ouer litle for to leerne, knowe and have sufficientli into mannis behove and into Goddis trewe service and lawe keping what is to be leerned and kunnen aboute usure, as to reeders and studiers ther yn it muste needis be open. Is ther eny more writen of usure in al the Newe Testament save this, Luke vi, ‘Geve ye loone, hoping no thing ther of,’ and al that is of usure writen in the Oold Testament favourith rather usure than it reproveth. How evere, therfore, schulde eny man seie that the sufficient leernyng and kunnyng of usure or of the vertu contrarie to usure is groundid in Holi Scripture? Howe evere schal thilk litil now rehercid clausul, Luke vi, be sufficient for to answere and assoile alle the harde scrupulose doutis and questiouns which al dai han neede to be assoiled in mennis bargenyngis and cheffaringis togidere? Ech man having to do with suche questiouns mai soone se that Holi Writt geveth litil or noon light thereto at al. Forwhi al that Holi Writt seith ther to is that he forbedith usure, and therfore al that mai be take therbi is this, that usure is unleeful; but though y bileeve herbi that usure is unleeful, how schal y wite herbi what usure is, that y be waar for to not do it, and whanne in a bargeyn is usure, though to summen seemeth noon, and how in a bargeyn is noon usure though to summen ther semeth to be?”
Pecock’s defence of the necessity of commentaries on the teaching of Scripture was the real answer to the statement afterwards made by Luther that the text, “Love thy neighbour as thyself,” was an all-sufficient guide to action (see Chap. II, p. 99). Examples of teaching as to usury contained in books such as Pecock had in mind will be found in Myrc’s Instructions for Parish Priests (Early English Text Society, ed. E. Peacock and F. J. Furnivall, 1902), the Pupilla Oculi, and Dan Michel’s Ayenbite of Inwyt (Early English Text Society, ed. R. Morris, 1866).
[74] The Catechism of John Hamilton, Archbishop of St. Andrews, 1552, ed. T. G. Law, 1884, pp. 97-9. Under the seventh commandment are denounced: “Fyftlie, al thay that defraudis or spoulyeis the common geir, aganis the common weill for lufe of their awin pryvate and singulare weill. Saxtlie, all usuraris and ockiraris synnis aganis this command, that wil nocht len thair geir frelie, bot makis conditione of ockir, aganis the command of Christe. Sevintlie, all thay quhilk hais servandis or work men and wyll nocht pay theim thair fee or waige, accordyng to conditioun and thair deservyng, quilk syn, as sanct James sayis, cryis vengeance before God. Auchtlie, all thai that strykis cowyne of unlauchful metall, quhair throuch the common weil is hurt and skaithit. The nynte, all Merchandis that sellis corruppit and evyll stufe for gude, and gyf thay or ony uther in bying or sellyng use desait, falsate, parjurie, wrang mettis or weychtis, to the skaith of thair nychtbour, thay committ gret syn agane this command. Nother can we clenge fra breakyng of this command all kyndis of craftis men quhilk usis nocht thair awin craft leillalie and trewlie as thai suld do.... All wrechis that wyl be ground ryche incontynent, quhay be fraud, falset, and gyle twynnis men and thair geir, quhay may keip thair nychbour fra povertie and myschance and dois it nocht. Quhay takis ouer sair mail, ouer mekle ferme or ony blake maillis fra thair tennands, or puttis thair cottaris to ouir sair labouris, quhair throw the tenentis and cottaris is put to herschip. Quha invies his nychbouris gud fortune, ouir byis him or takis his geir out of his handis with fair hechtis, or prevenis him, or begyles him at his marchandis hand.” The detail in which different forms of commercial sharp practice are denounced is noticeable.
[75] See e.g. Matt. Paris, Chron. Maj., vol. iii, pp. 191-2, for the case of a priest who, for refusing to give Christian burial to an excommunicate usurer, is seized by order of the Count of Brittany and buried alive, bound to the dead man. See also Materials for the History of Thomas Becket, vol. v, p. 38.
[76] Harduin, Acta Conciliorum, vol. vii, pp. 1017-20; “Anno prædicto [1485], diebus Mercurii et Jovis prædictis, scilicet ante Ramos Palmarum, ibidem apud Vicanum, in claustro ecclesiæ de Vicano; coram domino archiepiscopo, et mandato suo, personæ infrascriptæ, parochiani de Guorgonio, qui super usuraria pravitate erant quam plurimum diffamati; coram domino propter hoc vocati abjuraverunt: et per mandatum domini summas infrascriptas, quas se confessi fuerunt habuisse per usurariam pravitatem, per juramentum suum restituere promiserunt, et stare juri super his coram eo. Bertrandus de Faveriis abjuratus usuras, ut præmittitur, promisit restituere centum solidos monetæ antiquæ: quos, prout ipse confessus est, habuerat per usurariam pravitatem....” Thirty-six more cases were treated in this way.
[77] Villani, Cronica, book xii, chap. lviii (ed.1823, vol. vi, p. 142): Villani complains of the conduct of the inquisitor: “Ma per attignere danari, d’ogni piccola parola oziosa che alcuno dicesse per iniquità contra Iddio, o dicesse che usura non fosse peccato mortale, o simili parole, condannava in grossa somma di danari, secondo che l’uomo era ricco.”
[78] Constitutions of Clarendon, cap. 15: “Placita de debitis, quæ fide interposita debentur, vel absque interpositione fidei, sint in justitia regis.” On the whole subject see Pollock and Maitland, History of English Law, 2nd ed., 1898, vol. ii, pp. 197-202, and F. Makower, Constitutional History of the Church of England, 1895, § 60.
[79] Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of the City of London, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 44, 88, 156, 235; Selden Soc., Borough Customs, ed. M. Bateson, vol. ii, 1906, pp. 161 (London) and 209-10 (Dublin); Records of Leicester, ed. M. Bateson, vol. ii, 1901, p. 49. For similar prohibitions by manorial courts, see Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Marquis of Lothian, p. 28, and G. P. Scrope, History of the Manor and Barony of Castle Combe, 1852, p. 238.
[80] Annales de Burton, p. 256; Wilkins, Concilia, vol. ii, p. 115; Rot. Parl., vol. ii, p. 129b.
[81] Cal. of Letter Books of the City of London, ed. R. R. Sharpe, vol. H, pp. 23-4, 24-5, 27, 28, 200, 206-7, 261-2, 365; Liber Albus, bk. iii, pt. ii, pp. 77, 315, 394-401, 683; Selden Soc., Leet Jurisdiction in the City of Norwich, p. 35; Hist. MSS. Com., MSS. of Marquis of Lothian, pp. 26, 27.
[82] Rot. Parl., vol. ii, pp. 332a, 350b.
[83] R. H. Morris, Chester in the Plantagenet and Tudor Reigns, 1894 (?), p. 190.
[84] Early Chancery Proceedings, Bdle. xi, no. 307; Bdle. xxix, nos. 193-5; Bdle. xxxi, nos. 96-100, 527; Bdle. lx, no. 20; Bdle. lxiv, no. 1089. See also Year Books and Plea Rolls as Sources of Historical Information, by H. G. Richardson, in Trans. Royal Historical Society, 4th series, vol. v, 1922, pp. 47-8.
[85] Ed. Gibson, Codex Juris Ecclesiastici Anglicani, 2nd ed., 1761, p. 1026.
[86] 15 Ed. III, st. 1, c. 5; 3 Hen. VII, c. 5; 11 Hen. VII, c. 8; 13 Eliz. c. 8; 21 Jac. I, c. 17.
[87] Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of City of London, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 1, 12, 28-9, 33-4, 44, 52, 88, 141, 156, 226, 235, 251. The cases of the smiths and spurriers occur on pp. 33-4 and 52. In the fifteenth century a gild still occasionally tried to enforce its rules by proceedings in an ecclesiastical court (see Wm. H. Hale, A Series of Precedents and Proceedings in Criminal Causes, 1847, nos. xxxvi and lxviii, where persons breaking gild rules are cited before the Commissary’s court).
[88] Canterbury and York Soc., Registrum Thome Spofford, ed. A. T. Bannister, 1919, p. 52 (1424); and Surtees Society, vol. cxxxviii, The Register of Thomas of Corbridge, Lord Archbishop of York, ed. Wm. Brown, 1925, vol. i, pp. 187-8: “6 kal. Maii, 1303. Wilton.’ Littera testimonialis super purgacione domini Johannis de Multhorp, vicarii ecclesie de Garton’, de usura sibi imposita. Universis Christi fidelibus, ad quos presentes littere pervenerint, pateat per easdem quod, cum dominus Johannes de Multhorp’, vicarius ecclesie de Garton’, nostre diocesis, coram nobis Thoma, Dei gracia, etc., in visitacione nostra super usura fuisset notatus, videlicet, quod mutuavit cuidam Jollano de Briddale, ut dicebatur, xxxiij s. iiij d., eo pacto quod idem vicarius ab eo reciperet per x annos annis singulis x s. pro eisdem, de quibus eciam dictum fuit quod prefatus Jollanus dicto vicario pro octo annis ex pacto satisfecit et solvit predicto; eundem vicarium super hoc vocari fecimus coram nobis et ei objecimus supradicta, que ipse inficians constancius atque negans se optulit in forma juris super hiis legitime purgaturum. Nos autem eidem vicario purgacionem suam cum sua sexta manu vicariorum et aliorum presbiterorum sui ordinis indiximus faciendam, quam die Veneris proxima ante festum apostolorum Philippi et Jacobi (April 26), anno gracie mºcccº tercio, ad hoc sibi prefixo, in manerio nostro de Wilton’ super articulo recipimus supradicto, idemque vicarius unacum dominis Johanne, rectore ecclesie B.M. juxta portam castri de Eboraco, Johanne et Johanne, de Wharrum et de Wyverthorp’ ecclesiarum vicariis ac Roberto, Johanne, Alano, Stepheno et Willelmo, de Nafferton’, Driffeld’, Wetewang’, Foston’ et Wintringham ecclesiarum presbiteris parochialibus fidedignis, de memorato articulo legitime se purgavit; propter quod ipsum vicarium sic purgatum pronunciamus et inmunem sentencialiter declaramus, restituentes eundem ad suam pristinam bonam famam. In cujus rei testimonium sigillum nostrum presentibus est appensum.”
[89] Early Chancery Proceedings, Bdle. xviii, no. 137; Bdle. xix, no. 2155; Bdle. xxiv, no. 255; Bdle. xxxi, no. 348. See also A. Abram, Social England in the Fifteenth Century, 1909, pp. 215-17. In view of these examples, it seems probable that a more thorough examination of the Early Chancery Proceedings would show that, even in the fifteenth century, the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts in matters of contract and usury was of greater practical importance than has sometimes been supposed.
[90] Surtees Soc., vol. lxiv, 1875 (Acts of Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Ripon) contains more than 100 cases in which the court deals with questions of contract, debt, etc. The case which is dismissed “propter civilitatem causæ” occurs in 1532 (Surtees Soc., vol. xxi, 1845, Ecclesiastical Proceedings from the Courts of Durham, p. 49).
[91] Chetham Soc., vol. xliv, 1901, Act Book of the Ecclesiastical Court of Whalley, pp. 15-16.
[92] Surtees Soc., vol. lxiv, 1875, Acts of Chapter of the Collegiate Church of Ripon, p. 26.
[95] For parishes, see S. O. Addy, Church and Manor, 1913, chap. xv, where numerous examples are given. For a gild which appears to have acted as a bank, see Hist. MSS. Com., 11th Report, 1887, Appx., pt. iii, p. 228 (MSS. of the Borough of King’s Lynn), and for other examples of loans, H. F. Westlake, The Parish Gilds of Mediæval England, 1919, pp. 61-3, Records of the City of Oxford, ed. Wm. H. Turner, 1880, p. 8, Statutes of Lincoln Cathedral, ed. C. Wordsworth, pt. ii, 1897, pp. 616-17, and G. Unwin, The Gilds and Companies of London, 1908, p. 121. For a hospital, see Hist. MSS. Com., 14th Report, Appx., pt. viii, 1895, p. 129 (MSS. of the Corporation of Bury St. Edmunds), where 20d. is lent (or given) to a poor man to buy seed for his land. A statement (made half a century after the Dissolution) as to loans by monasteries is quoted by F. A. Gasquet, Henry VIII and the English Monasteries, 7th ed., 1920, p. 463; specific examples are not known to me.
[96] W. H. Bliss, Cal. of Papal Letters, vol. i, pp. 267-8.
[97] For the early history of the Monts de Piété see Holzapfel, Die Anfänge der Montes Pietatis (1903), and for their development in the Low Countries, A. Henne, Histoire du Règne de Charles-quint en Belgique, 1859, vol. v, pp. 220-3. For proposals to establish them in England see S.P.D. Eliz., vol. cx, no. 57 (printed in Tawney and Power, Tudor Economic Documents, vol. iii, sect. iii, no. 6), and my introduction to Thomas Wilson’s Discourse upon Usury, 1925, pp. 125-7.
[98] Camden Soc., A Relation of the Island of England about the Year 1500 (translated from the Italian), 1847, p. 23.
[99] Lyndwood, Provinciale, sub. tit. Usura, and Gibson, Codex Jur. Eccl. Angl., vol. ii, p. 1026.
[100] Pecock, The Repressor of over-much blaming of the Clergy, pt. iii, chap. iv, pp. 296-7: “Also Crist seide here in this present proces, that ‘at God’ it is possible a riche man to entre into the kingdom of heuen; that is to seie, with grace which God profrith and geueth ... though he abide stille riche, and though withoute such grace it is ouer hard to him being riche to entre. Wherfore folewith herof openli, that it is not forbodun of God eny man to be riche; for thanne noon such man schulde euere entre heuen.... And if it be not forbode eny man to be riche, certis thanne it is leeful ynough ech man to be riche; in lasse than he vowe the contrarie or that he knowith bi assay and experience him silf so miche indisposid anentis richessis, that he schal not mowe rewle him silf aright anentis tho richessis: for in thilk caas he is bonde to holde him silf in poverte.” The embarrassing qualification at the end—which suggests the question, who then dare be rich?—is the more striking because of the common-sense rationalism of the rest of the passage.
[101] Trithemius, quoted by J. Janssen, History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, vol. ii, 1896, p. 102.
[102] Cal. of Early Mayor’s Court Rolls of the City of London, ed. A. H. Thomas, pp. 157-8.
[103] See A. Luchaire, Social France at the time of Philip Augustus (translated by E. B. Krehbiel), pp. 391-2, where an eloquent denunciation by Jacques de Vitry is quoted.
[104] Topographer and Genealogist, vol. i, 1846, p. 35. (The writer is a surveyor, one Humberstone.)
[105] See e.g. Chaucer, The Persone’s Tale, §§ 64-6. The parson expresses the orthodox view that “the condicioun of thraldom and the firste cause of thraldom is for sinne.” But he insists that serfs and lords are spiritually equal: “Thilke that thou clepest thy thralles been goddes peple; for humble folk been Cristes freendes.”
[106] Gratian, Decretum, pt. ii, causa x, Q. ii, c. iii, and causa xii, Q. ii, c. xxxix.
[107] Summa Theol., 1a 2ae, Q. xciv, art. v, § 3.
[108] An article of the German Peasants’ program in 1525 declared: “For men to hold us as their own property ... is pitiable enough, considering that Christ has delivered and redeemed us all, the lowly as well as the great, without exception, by the shedding of His precious blood. Accordingly it is consistent with Scripture that we should be free.” (The program is printed in J. S. Schapiro, Social Reform and the Reformation, 1909, pp. 137-42.) The rebels under Ket prayed “that all bondmen may be made free, for God freed them all with His precious blood-shedding” (printed in Bland, Brown, and Tawney, English Economic History, Select Documents, pt. ii, sect. i, no. 8).
[1] A Lecture on the Study of History, delivered at Cambridge, June 11, 1895, by Lord Acton, p. 9.
[2] W. Sombart (Der moderne Kapitalismus, 1916, vol. i, pp. 524-6) gives facts and figures. See also J. Strieder, Studien zur Geschichte kapitalistischer Organisationsformen, 1914, kap. i, ii.
[3] E. R. Daenell, Die Blütezeit der Deutschen Hanse, 1905; Schanz, Englische Handelspolitik gegen die Ende des Mittelalters, vol. i; N. S. B. Gras, The Early English Customs System, 1918, pp. 452-514.
[4] E.g., The Fugger News-Letters, 1568-1605, ed. V. von Klarwill, trans. P. de Chary, 1924.
[5] E. Albèri, Le Relazione degli Ambasciatori Veneti al Senato, serie I, vol. iii, 1853, p. 357 (Relazione di Filippo II Re di Spagna da Michele Soriano nel 1559): “Questi sono li tesori del re di Spagna, queste le miniere, queste l’Indie che hanno sostentato l’imprese dell’ Imperatore tanti anni.”
[6] The best contemporary picture of the trade of Antwerp is that of L. Guicciardini, Descrittione di tutti i Paesi Bassi (1567), of which part is reprinted in a French translation in Tawney and Power, Tudor Economic Documents, vol. iii, pp. 149-173. The best modern accounts of Antwerp are given by Pirenne, Histoire de Belgique, vol. ii, pp. 399-403, and vol. iii, pp. 259-72; Ehrenberg, Das Zeitalter der Fugger, vol. ii, pp. 3-68; and J. A. Goris, Étude sur les Colonies Marchandes Méridionales à Anvers de 1488 à 1567 (1925).
[7] The Meutings had opened a branch in Antwerp in 1479, the Hochstetters in 1486, the Fuggers in 1508, the Welsers in 1509 (Pirenne, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 261).
[8] Pirenne, op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 273-6.
[9] Ehrenberg, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 7-8.
[10] A short account of international financial relations in the sixteenth century will be found in my introduction to Thomas Wilson’s Discourse upon Usury, 1925, pp. 60-86.
[11] Erasmus, Adagia; see also The Complaint of Peace.
[12] For the Fuggers, see Ehrenberg, op. cit., vol. i, pp. 85-186, and for the other German firms mentioned, ibid., pp. 187-269.
[13] See Goris, op. cit., pp. 510-45, where the reply of the Paris theologians is printed in full; and Ehrenberg, op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 18, 21. For Bellarmin, see Goris, op. cit., pp. 551-2. A curious illustration of the manner in which it was still thought necessary in the later sixteenth century, and in Protestant England, to reconcile economic policy with canonist doctrine, will be found in S.P.D. Eliz., vol. lxxv, no. 54 (printed in Tawney and Power, Tudor Economic Documents, vol. iii, pp. 359-70). The writer, who is urging the repeal of the Act of 1552 forbidding all interest whatever, cites Aquinas and Hostiensis to prove that “trewe and unfayned interest” is not to be condemned as usury.
[14] Ashley, Economic History, 1893, vol. i, pt. ii, pp. 442-3.
[15] Bodin, La Response de Jean Bodin aux Paradoxes de Malestroit touchant l’enchérissement de toutes choses et le moyen d’y remédier.
[16] See Max Neumann, Geschichte des Wuchers in Deutschland, 1865, pp. 487 seqq.
[17] Calvin’s views will be found in his Epistolæ et Responsa, 1575, pp. 355-7, and in Sermon xxviii in the Opera.
[18] Bucer, De Regno Christi.
[19] Third Decade, 1st and 2nd Sermons, in The Decades of Henry Bullinger (Parker Society), vol. iii, 1850.
[20] Luther, Kleiner Sermon vom Wucher (1519) in Werke (Weimar ed.), vol. vi, pp. 1-8; Grosser Sermon vom Wucher (1520), in ibid., pp. 33-60; Von Kaufshandlung und Wucher (1524), in ibid., vol. xv, pp. 279-322; An die Pfarrherrn wider den Wucher zu predigen, Vermahnung (1540), in ibid., vol. li, pp. 325-424.
[21] “Hie müsste man wahrlich auch den Fuckern und der geistlichen Gesellschaft einen Zaum ins Maul legen” (quoted by Ehrenberg, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 117 n.)
[22] See pp. 114-15.
[23] Luther, Wider die räuberischen und mörderischen Rotten der Bauern (1525), in Werke, vol. xviii, pp. 357-61.
[24] Latimer, Sermons; Ponet, An Exhortation, or rather a Warning, to the Lords and Commons; Crowley, The Way to Wealth, and Epigrams (in Select Works of Robert Crowley, ed. J. M. Cowper, E.E.T.S., 1872); Lever, Sermons, 1550 (English Reprints, ed. E. Arber, 1895); Becon, The Jewel of Joy, 1553; Sandys, 2nd, 10th, 11th, and 12th of Sermons (Parker Society, 1841); Jewel, Works, pt. iv, pp. 1293-8 (Parker Society, 1850). Citations from less well-known writers and preachers will be found in J. O. W. Haweis, Sketches of the Reformation, 1844.
[25] Gairdner, Letters and Papers of Henry VIII, vol. xvi, no. 357.
[26] Bossuet, Traité de l’Usure. For an account of his views, see Favre, Le prêt a intérêt dans l’ancienne France.
[27] Brief Survey of the Growth of Usury in England with the Mischiefs attending it, 1673.
[28] For an account of these changes see K. Lamprecht, Zum Verständnis der wirthschaftlichen und sozialen Wandlungen in Deutschland vom 14. zum 16. Jahrhundert, in the Zeitschrift für Sozial- und Wirthschaftsgeschichte, Bd. i, 1893, pp. 191 seqq.
[29] Lamprecht, op. cit., and J. S. Schapiro, Social Reform and the Reformation, 1909, pp. 40-73.